Improvement in stamp-cancelers



AMOS D.

OWEN, or rnonNToWN, INDIANA.

.Letters Patent No.111,7' ?3, dated February 14, 1871.

IMPROVEMENT IN STAMP-CANCELERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ox the same.

To whom 'it'may concern.-

Bc itl'inownthat I, Aires l). OWEN, of Thorntown, in the county of Boone and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cancel-ingand Date-Stamps; and I do declare that theibllowing isa true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and being a part of this specilication.

The nature of this invention relates to the construction. ot' a device for canceling revenue, postal,

` and other stamps, while at the same 'time it will opcrate as a-post-ot'fice and datefstamp, and is designed to be an improvement to a device for a similar purpose for .which Letters Pat-ent were granted me on the 7th day ofJune, A. D. 1870.

rlhe invention consists iu securing the canceling and date-stamp to the end of an arm which describes4 the segment of a circle, operated by radial arms, to which it is secured, and which are in turn pivotcd to a center in such a manner as to allow saidarm'an easy movement. Also, in combination therewith, of a gas or wick-tube, so arranged as to heat the stamp, and in a protecting-shield, the whole arranged and operating as more fully hereinafter described.

The invention further consists in so constructingaud operating curved arms' that, while a heated canceiingstamp may be employed at one end of said c'urved arms, 'a date-stamp may be employed, with a ribbon or any other Suitable inking device, at theopposite end of said arms, the whole forming a very simple and as more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawing- A represents a curved arm, which may be single or double, as shown, and'connected together by suitable braces. This arm should represent a segment of .economical deviceibr the purpose, and constructed about a quarter ot'a circle, and to one end of it is se-v cured in any convenient manner the die B, whose face may be cut with any desired device or legend, or it may be arranged as ordinary date-stamps are, so that dates may be readily changed..

By means ofradial arms C this arm A issecurely pivoted at a to a suitable bed or table, D, and a handle, E, is provided and secured to the arm A, by means-of which the operator compels thedie B to engage with the stamp to vbe canceled, which rests upon the baseI for'that purpose.

F is a gas-pipe or wick-tube, so arranged that when the die B is not in operation a small. flame,

issuing from said pipe F, will impinge against and keep. hot the said die.

G is a spring, so arranged that after the operator has employed the die B and released the handle E it will rapidly and violentlycompel the armlA to rc sume its original position.

H is a shield, of any suitable non-combustible material, secured to the bed D or in any other convenient manner, so as to allow of a free and uninterruped operatiou'of the curved arm A, and is interposed bctween tlie base I and the flame issuing from the gaspipe F to prevent any danger which might arise from a careless operator in burning the document to which the stamp to be canceled may be aixed.

J isa date-stamp or dicot the usual construction, so arranged that dates may be readily changed, and is conveniently -secured to the opposite end ot' the curved arm A. A suitable base, K, is provided, against which this die J- is designedl to impinge.

I adopt the plan of heating the canceling-'alie B in preference to any other-mode of cancellation for the reasons that there is no ink employed which can be washed out and the stamp thus canceled fraudulently reused, and that there is no mutilation of the documeutto which the stamp is aiiixed, as when the cancellation by cutting devices is employed.

It also frequently happens that twov` stamps or: dies are required, the one being employed for the purposes of canceling, while the other is desired for other pur' poses. In the present device I present a perfect method of cancellation by branding by the use of the die B, heated by a tiame, and operated by the oper-y .ator through the handle E; also, in the same device, adatte-stamp by the use of the die J andany suitable manner ot' inking the same, operated by the spring G u-pon the handle being released.

=Vhat I claim asniy invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The dies B J, secured at opposite ends ofthe curved arm A, the latter being pivoted at a by means of the radial arms C C, when constructed, arranged,

and operating substantially asv and for the purposes set forth. l I

2. The shicldH, in combination with the tube Ii and the die B, when all are constructed and arranged substantially as described and shown, for the purposes set forth.

Witnesses: AMOS 1). OWEN.

Trios. S. SPRAGUE, SAML. G. MARR. 

